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“Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint.”

Graffitis on Tehran’s walls, close to some specific places sent a Kurdish filmmaker to prison. The new film of Keyvan Karimi, ‘Writing on the City’ was shot at scenes related to the protests following the 2009 presidential election. Two weeks ago, Karimi was sentenced to six years in prison and 223 lashes by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. His charges: 'insulting the sacred' and 'illegitimate relations'.

As Karimi's lawyer highlights “The maximum penalty for insulting the sacred is five years, but…Judge Moghisseh has condemned him to six years in prison”.

The lawyer added: Iran’s Islamic Penal Code states that an individual should serve no more than the maximum sentence for the charge carrying the heaviest penalty, in cases of multiple charges. Based on that, the sentence imposed on Karimi was unlawful. 

A source close to the filmmaker said that Karimi’s Kurdish and Sunni background may also have contributed to his harsh sentence. Iran’s Kurdish ethnic minority and Sunni Muslim religious  minority face systematic discrimination and persecution.

Just to mention another, unlawful detention, there are some sad updates on the fate of Jason Rezaian. 

Two weeks ago, after months of imprisonment, the Washington Post correspondent learned of his conviction by watching the state television.

Rezaian was arrested at his home in Tehran in July 2014 and held for months without being informed of the charges against him. In April 2015, he was formally charged with espionage, 'acting against the holy Islamic Republic', and 'endangering national security'.
(Source: http://en.iranwire.com/ by Shahrock Heldari)

The Post’s executive editor, Martin Baron said: “He has spent nearly 15 months locked up in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, more than three times as long than any other western journalists.” 

To justify the accusations against him, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards prepared a short video. The film explains that the jailed journalist was part of an extensive spy network at the time of his arrest.

As the IranWire, a joint venture of a group of Iranian journalists in the Diaspora, writes:
“Contrary to statements made by Rezaian’s family, lawyer and colleagues, the film argues, albeit unconvincingly, that not only was the journalist acting illegally at the time of his arrest, but that he had been privy to plans for unrest following the 2009 disputed presidential election [..] and was part of a larger, US-led operation to undermine the Islamic Republic and turn the public against the regime.”

Rezaian's case has been poisoning the US-Iranian relationship for a long time. Now it is America's turn to reply to this video full of accusations.

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